They were pulling away from what was probably their most significant mission to date. They had finally done it. The missile construction plant was demolished. Actually, it was more than demolished, it was being atomized by the horde of assemblers that were stored there. It would have been a moment of complete celebration for the souls and their captain if not for one, little, oh-so-tiny detail.
“So, how many times did you die?” Kroker asked their newest member.
Nabiki’s image shook her head in the virtual meeting place where the souls congregated. “I think it was only three times, but then again, I was on stealth duties.” She shook her head a little more. “I really should have trained the old bastard a little more. How about you?”
Kroker smirked. “None. The man seems to like me in the Scarabs, doing the housework. Works for me if I don’t have to get killed ten times.”
“If you’re lucky,” Borden added. “I was killed seven times by the enemy and twice by Patton’s damn cannons.”
“Hey, stay the fuck outta my way when I’m blasting them!”
Nabiki’s avatar gave a sigh. “Well, he’s learning, but this was the worst operation yet. We need for him to improve quickly.”
“It’s not just his lack of experience,” Korolev added in. “Those hybrid units were powerful. We haven’t really faced them before and now we just saw how powerful they can be. Those Mammoth tanks must have been twice as powerful as the normal ones.”
Ransom nodded at that, “And those were made to take down anything on land or in air. Those Apaches were tough, too.”
Madsen piped in, “Even their weapon systems were upgraded. Where did they get all this?”
Borden looked over them all, giving a huff of frustration when they didn’t come up with an answer. “Remember those biodomes?” They all nodded. “Care to wager that what they were growing in there was the same kind of thing they’re putting in the vehicles?”
“What about the airfield before the wet dock?” Everyone looked at him oddly. “Hey! I’ve got my tanks, now I’m ready to work with you! Anyway, recall the airfield where the enemy’s original ambush was stationed before the wet dock?”
“Right before we met Ranma?” Nabiki inquired. “We were supposed to destroy a craft that had a sabotage unit. Instead we encountered some kind of…” She broke off mid-sentence, a look of horror spread across her face.
Patton nodded. “A living weapon. Something that you could plant and it would attack everything in the area.” Everyone now shared Nabiki’s look. “We may have stumbled on something a bit more ferocious.”
“The stone, we still have that stone from the airfield.” Sinclair pointed out. “Wasn’t the cruiser’s A.I. working on deciphering it?”
The female, monotone voice of Antaeus’s A.I. responded, “Affirmative. The data storage device recovered from the enemy airfield is been deciphered. Completion is estimated at forty six percent.”
“Can you tell us what it’s purpose is?” Sinclair continued.
“It is classified as a culture stone, developed so that the artificial species that created it could reproduce their culture from a small amount of genetic material, nanotech assemblers, and raw materials. By this method, they have developed a means of emergency reproduction. It also contains a history log of the origins of the species.”
“What do we know of this origin?”
“They were developed by one of the old world governments originally. Purpose and means unknown. They’re newest transformation has been centred around that adaptation of three human women to act as control mechanisms for an entire host. By using their minds for the logical and intuitive capabilities inherent in human beings, the Cabal have made the species more efficient and effective.”
“Oh God,” Madsen gasped. “They’ve turned people into things like those vehicles?”
Sinclair looked stoic, a rarity for him. “What else, Antaeus?”
“The species hold a deep grudge against the Cabal, referring to them as the changers. The three women, the sisters, feel that the changers have betrayed them. There is no other relevant data at this time.”
“Do we know who the ‘sisters’ are?” Nabiki asked.
"Negative"
Church saw walker across the room as she entered. He was taking some form of medication. She could guess what it was, having just finished the same briefing he had likely just finished pouring over. She still felt the need to verify. “What is that on the menu?”
“Just acetaminophen, Church. Saotome’s antics are giving me a headache.” He shook his head and held the bottle up.
Church took the bottle, opened it, confirming what he said, then took two pills herself. “Good point. Still, not all is lost.”
“Nothing’s lost, we just have no means to reinforce his methods. We haven’t been prepared for war for two decades and now we have a barge full of P.O.W.’s with no jail, jailers, or wardens ready to keep them.” Walker stayed seated, obviously frustrated, but not moving much. Church had noted how he seemed to stay calm while seething at everything around him. It let him keep a cool head. “We can’t just kill them Church, but how do we keep them?”
“I suppose the best we can do is direct them to one of the island’s we’ve already secured and maroon them there.” Church looked out the window, one of her own habits that was a telling sign. She knew she did this when she was contemplating herself and what they had done ¯ or would have done. “Walker?”
“Yes, Church?”
“He’s more merciful than we would have been.” It wasn’t a question, mostly.
Walker didn’t respond right away, obviously giving the question proper thought. “I think so, Church, but he’s closer to the situation than we are and from another side. We’ve been seeing only enemies killing our own. He sees other men and women who may have been tricked to helping self-serving despots, just as he has been. He’s giving them what Tendo’s already given him: a second chance.”
“His methods still amaze me. Broadcasting a message verbally from all his available units that the island was to be destroyed and telling them to evacuate in five minutes.” Church shook her head in disbelief. “Then to have one of the Scarab vehicles scanning each person leaving the facility’s eastern exit and heading for the boat to make sure they didn’t carry weapons, disassemblers, or data-storage devices.”
Walker’s expression didn’t change from the slight frown marking his face. “He did have to shoot someone, though, when they tried to bring a weapon aboard. Likely some fanatic wanting to kill all the traitors.”
“Still, he did manage to save a hundred lives. Lives we would have taken in a quest for vengeance.” Church looked out upon the city. “When did we begin to lose our humanity, Walker? When did we forget that those we left behind are people too?”
“We haven’t lost our humanity, Church. The fact that we feel so poorly of how we would have acted proves it. The only thing we can do is make sure we don’t actually fail when the decisions come for us to make them.”
“And when we realise we’ve already done so?”
“Pray that we can right what wrongs we’ve made and continue on. We’ve not lost our humanity, Church. We make mistakes. The thing to show we’re good people is to correct those mistakes.”
She continues to stare out the window, gazing at the pristine city. The place she had helped create. The place that abandoned people like Ranma Saotome. She didn’t voice her last thought of ‘But how?’
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(Posted Tue, 25 May 2010 08:57)
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